That's It?
by Julia451
Summary: One-shot set during "The Last Stand." Korra has a different reaction to hearing Kuvira's oh-so-heartbreakingly-tragic backstory. Addresses something that relates to Kuvira that I personally find to be very cliché and badly written. Not for Kuvira fans.


"Why would you save my life? After everything I did to you?" Kuvira stared at the Avatar for a few seconds in silence before forcing a laugh. "Let me guess – you feel sorry for me. You think I'm just like you..."

The Avatar's eyes widened in surprise. "What? No – why would I think that? How could anybody think we're alike? We're complete opposites. You're the embodiment of patience; what's been my biggest weakness since Day 1? Whenever something doesn't go your way, you sit and wait; I punch something and force it to happen. You're a master of neutral jing; I'm as hotheaded as Prince Zuko. I've never seen less of myself in someone."

"Me, neither. So, I repeat, why did you save me?"

Korra narrowed her eyes in fury as she walked toward the other woman. "Because I want some answers." She kept advancing until Kuvira took one step back; they both stood still, wearing matching scowls of hatred and disgust. "Why did you do you do it? Why did you enslave and kill so many people? What were you trying to accomplish? What good did you think would come of it? What made you think you had the right to take people's freedom, home, and lives? How could you not know it was wrong? Why didn't you care how many people suffered? Why did you do all of this?! Why?!"

"All right, I heard you the first fifty times! You want to know why I worked so hard to build my Empire? Why I was willing to pay any price for it? You want to know what I've been through?"

"Yeah. All I know is what Su told me about taking you in when you were younger. What's the rest of the story? What sort of trauma emotionally scarred you? Were you raped? Watch your family get killed by a Firebender? Run away from home because your father beat you? Kidnapped by pirates and forced into slave labor? Have your Bending stolen, your souls killed, and get tortured to the brink of death all within three years?"

Kuvira took a painful step towards her judge. "No! You want to know what horrific nightmare lies in my past? What drove me to this? I'll tell you!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath (causing Korra to instinctively clench her fists as she waited to hear the horrible story). After gathering her strength, Kuvira opened her eyes again and growled, "I was cast aside by my own parents like I meant nothing to them!" The reveal over, she collapsed to her knees, panting and gasping for breath, waiting to see how her audience would react.

Korra didn't move a muscle, just stood there with a blank expression on her face. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime of silence, she spoke: "That's it? That's your traumatizing, mentally-debilitating, unbearable, tragic tale? 'My biological parents abandoned me? I lost my parents before being adopted by one of the richest, nicest families in the world?' _That's your excuse?!_" The Avatar could contain her rage no more. "Princess Azula was raised by a psychopath who groomed her to be a cold-blooded, killing machine. Jet watched a bunch of thugs kill his parents and burn down his village. Hama was isolated in prison for years. Amon and Tarrlok were abused by a psychotic father. And you... you were raised by a wonderful mother who was not your biological mother? Come on, you can do better than that! There's got to be more to it!"

"No, that's it. I was an orphan. Nobody else in the history of fiction has ever had to undergo such a horrendous ordeal!" 

Korra shook her head and began pacing back and forth. "I don't believe it... 'My parents abandoned me, so I tried to take over the world.' That's not a backstory – that's a _parody_ of a villain backstory! That's like something a villain would say in that BadAnon-style _Powerpuff Girls_ commercial. 'Mojo's angry about a keychain, so he wants to destroy the world – does that sound reasonable?' 'Kuvira was abandoned by her parents, so she wants to take over the world – does that sound reasonable?' Wow... congratulations. I've heard a lot of lame excuses from villains, but yours tops them all."

"How dare you! _I was an adopted child!_ Do you have any idea how painful that is? How can you blame me for becoming a vicious, heartless, racist, tyrannical dictator? You're demeaning the pain of every orphan and abandoned child in the world!"

"Actually, I think _you_ are." Her eyes still wide in disbelief, Korra turned her back on the woman and strolled away. "I should have been a villain; then I could whine about _anything_, and nobody would have the right to criticize me."


End file.
